1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to audio processing and more particularly to single microphone noise suppression fallback.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, there are numerous methods for reducing background noise in speech recordings made in adverse environments. One such method is to use two or more microphones on an audio device. These microphones may be localized and allow the device to determine a difference between the microphone signals. For example, due to a space difference between the microphones, the difference in times of arrival of sound from a speech source to the microphones may be utilized to localize the speech source. Once localized, signals generated by the microphones can be spatially filtered to suppress the noise originating from different directions.
Disadvantageously, circumstance may occur in a dual microphone noise suppression system whereby a dependence on a secondary microphone may be unnecessary or cause misclassifications. For example, the secondary microphone may be blocked or fail. In other examples, distractors (e.g., noise) from a same spatial location as speech may not be distinguishable by using a plurality of microphones. As such, it is advantageous to have a system which may allow a fallback to single microphone noise suppression.